


Constant Confinement

by Scourgefan12



Series: Cherubim-Verse [2]
Category: Hellsing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:01:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29500329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scourgefan12/pseuds/Scourgefan12
Summary: Jan seems to be making it his goal to be as big of a nuisance as possible, and Doc is quite frankly sick of it. With so many important things on the verge of happening, he can't afford to let Jan's childish antics distract him.
Relationships: The Doctor/Jan Valentine
Series: Cherubim-Verse [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2164617
Kudos: 4





	Constant Confinement

Doc was very nearly at his limit. 

At first, he'd been looking forward to having Jan around for longer. He'd been excited to have the person he loved by his side as things advanced and Millennium's plans moved forward. It seemed like it would be fun, and having someone to share his future accomplishments with would make them so much more rewarding. In theory, anyway.

Now he was beginning to feel like a fool for having any positive expectations at all.

Jan was being ridiculously obnoxious. He'd been doing so a lot as of late, seemingly doing anything he could to get on Doc's nerves. Everyone else's too, but he paid a special attention to Doc, appearing to find it extra funny to piss his boyfriend off.

He'd sabotage any attempt Doc made at talking to him. If Doc tried to bring up Millennium's future plans, he'd loudly complain about how little he cared. If Doc just tried to have a normal conversation, ask him how his day was or something, Jan would laugh at him, tossing out something along the lines of "like you fucking care" and then switching to either making fun of Doc or hitting on him before he could say anything in his defense. Even when Doc did his best to appeal to Jan's interests, trying to discuss something he'd like, Jan metaphorically spit in his face.

At first it hurt, since the two of them didn't get a whole lot of time together anymore. Not as much as before, at least. Doc was busy, he needed to focus almost all his attention on helping the Major and making sure things progressed as they should. Things were really starting to heat up, some of the high ranking officers had already been sent off to face Alucard and they'd be launching their assault on London very soon, within the next week most likely. That left little opportunity for he and Jan to spend quality time together, restricting their chances to either in between Doc's shifts or while he was still working.

Doc supposed that over time it still hurt, but not the same raw type of pain it had caused at first. Now he felt more bitter than anything. If Jan wanted to be a brat and ruin the few times they got to interact, then whatever. Let him, wasn't Doc's problem.

Okay, it very much _was_ Doc's problem. It was literally nobody else's problem but his, and maybe Jan's. As well as whoever else was around at the time, which luckily was usually no one. Doc just normally tried to disregard it, if he could. He hoped that whatever had gotten into Jan lately would go away on its own, that Jan would get over it.

Of course, his wishes went ignored.

Jan derailing attempts at communication wasn't the only thing he did to get on Doc's nerves. He was no one trick pony, he had more than that up his sleeves.

Sometimes when Doc was working, Jan would seek him out. Barge into his lab and demand Doc's attention.

Doc had thought he could handle this, it was something he'd dealt with in the past. He figured it would be easy enough to distract Jan and keep him entertained enough to stay out of the way.

Unfortunately for him, this was different from Jan's previous interruptions. He was not willing to compromise or settle down, he was determined to be a nuisance.

Really, 'nuisance' was putting it lightly. Jan had seemingly made it his personal goal to drive Doc absolutely insane.

He did everything he could to disrupt Doc. Baiting him into confrontational interactions and cackling when he got mad. Sitting right on the counter or table Doc was working at, either blocking his view or sitting directly on Doc's current project. Sometimes he would just swipe whatever Doc was working on right to the floor, breaking it. When he did this, he acted almost apologetic, claiming that it was a mistake, but the amusement in his expression made it clear that was a lie.

And then there were the advances, which honestly could more accurately be described as borderline sexual harassment. Really, calling it 'borderline' was a stretch. The only thing that made it slightly okay was the fact that they were in a relationship, so under normal circumstances this behavior might be acceptable. 

Jan would describe in detail what he wanted to do to Doc, or what he wanted Doc to do to him. If that didn't get the reaction he wanted, which it never did, he'd try a more hands-on approach. Clinging to Doc, trying to yank his clothes off, feeling up everywhere he could reach. Attacking Doc's neck with kisses, 'attack' being quite a literal descriptor, since Jan would mostly just use his teeth and little else. All of this was accompanied by a whiplash-inducing mixture of demanding and begging.

Doc didn't have to put up with this, and he rarely had the patience to try. Once he caught onto Jan's intentions he usually kicked him out before things could escalate. Half the time this did very little, Jan would refuse to leave and would just switch to aggravating Doc some other way. And when he _did_ leave, he did so in a huff, acting pissed off and dejected, as if Doc was somehow doing something wrong by not wanting him around.

It was... exhausting, to say the least. It actually reminded Doc of when Jan first joined, before the two of them really knew each other and Jan would pester him for fun. This, however, was significantly worse. Before, even when Jan was overtly hostile to him, it seemed oddly non-malicious. He hadn't hated Doc, he just loved getting a rise out of him, because Doc always gave him a reaction. It was simply for entertainment, and ended up being what let them get to know each other and grow close in the first place.

Now was different. Jan's attitude towards him was so horrible and nasty, most of the time. When he wasn't doing everything he could to upset and inconvenience Doc, he would relentlessly pursue him, possibly more aggressive and desperate than Doc had ever seen him before. He would switch between these within seconds, barely giving Doc time to keep up. It was the strangest case of mixed signals he'd ever seen.

It really seemed like Jan was mad at him, but he couldn't think of a single thing he'd done that could have been terrible enough to warrant any of this. Things had been going quite well, it seriously felt like this all started out of nowhere.

Not understanding it only made it more frustrating. If Jan gave some indication as to _why_ he was acting this way, then maybe Doc could do something about it. But as things were, all he could do was try his best to navigate whatever this was. Which, unfortunately, usually meant avoiding Jan.

This was easy enough most of the time, all he had to do was lock whatever room he was residing in. The problem here was the times where this wasn't an option. Jan would encounter him eventually, and he would be _so_ much worse. The knowledge that Doc was trying to keep him away did not sit well. He would be sure to be at least ten times more infuriating than normal to make up for his absence, at least that's what it felt like.

It was one of these times when Doc decided he'd had enough. Jan was being seriously awful, but that was nothing new. He kept putting his hands on Doc, not even in an explicitly sexual way, it was more like gestures and actions in time with his words. It almost seemed friendly or affectionate, if not for the fact that he was being rough enough to cause pain. Nothing serious, but it certainly stung.

Doc managed to push him away after a while, but that did nothing to stop the vile things that were coming out of his mouth. The things he was saying were barely a step removed from personal attacks, he knew exactly how to get to Doc and he was tapping directly into that. Jan wasn't even _trying_ to hide the fact that he was upset with him anymore.

He did his best to not acknowledge any of it, but that was much easier said than done. Sometimes he couldn't help but fire back, he wasn't good at ignoring things, especially incredibly enraging things. Of course, whenever he responded that only made things worse. Jan thrived on the attention, laughing at Doc's frustration and using whatever was said to him for more material.

After dealing with enough of this, could Doc really be blamed for snapping?

While Jan was on a tangent 'criticizing' (Mocking) Doc's work, it became too much. He couldn't take any more. 

"Will you just _shut up_ already?" He hissed, glaring daggers at Jan.

"Ah shit, really didn't like that, huh?" Jan stated the obvious. "Look at you, you're turnin' all red and everything."

"I said-" Doc cut himself off, groaning. This wasn't helping. This was doing the opposite of helping. In fact, if he thought about this rationally, he could likely predict exactly how things would progress if he didn't stop rising to to Jan's bait. He needed to calm down. He sighed before trying again. "What's wrong with you?"

"That ain't what you said, dipshit." Jan acted amused, content to try playing dumb.

No problem, he'd needed to deal with Jan dodging subjects and problems before. He could handle this. Not like he had much choice, they needed to talk about this. Whatever this was. Or else it would just keep getting worse.

"You know what I mean. Come on, you're not stupid." 

Jan looked conflicted at that, like he wanted to argue but wasn't sure where to start.

Doc wasn't going to give him a chance to figure something out. "You've been so... so _horrible_ lately. What's gotten into you?"

A few emotions crossed Jan's face. First shock, then for a brief moment there was remorse, and then he settled on rage. "Of course you don't fuckin' know." He practically growled. "Why should I expect you to give a shit?" That was followed by a bitter laugh.

Jan really wasn't going to make this easy, was he? Whatever, if he was going to act like a child then Doc was more than capable of being the mature one. "Listen." He took a breath to steady himself, to make sure he didn't sound too angry. "If I did something to upset you then I'm sorry, but I can't know what I did if you don't tell me."

"You didn't fucking do anything!" Jan snapped at him.

Then what was the problem? Was Jan mad about something else and just taking it out on him? Doc was going to ask these questions, but before he could Jan continued speaking.

"That's kinda the whole fuckin' point, you..." He trailed off, searching for the right words. "You've been balls deep in all this other shit, and I get that it's important or whatever, but I can barely get you to fucking _look_ at me." He shot an accusatory glare Doc's way, but he looked more hurt than anything. "Like, what was the fuckin' point of keepin' me alive if you're just gonna ignore me all the time? Would it kill you to at least pretend to still care about me? Being a piece of shit's the only way I can get you to remember I exist! I don't _want_ you to be mad at me, but it's better than you not talkin' to me at all!" The longer he went on, the more hysterical he sounded. He seemed like he had more to say, but didn't trust himself to do so. He was very distressed, breathing heavily, trembling, arms wrapped around himself. He looked almost ready to start crying.

Doc was beginning to feel like maybe he was the one who was a piece of shit here. It wasn't like there were no hard feelings on his end after all that Jan had done, but it was hard to not feel bad when everything was presented to him like this.

Part of him stubbornly wanted to scold Jan, say that if he'd just opened up and talked about this in the first place then things never would have gotten this bad. They could have fixed this early on, there was no need for Jan to do anything that he did. He probably would end up saying this, later though. After they got everything sorted out and Jan had some time to calm down. It would do no good to bring it up now.

It made a lot of sense when he thought about it, he felt kind of dense for not catching on by himself. Jan didn't do things for no reason, there was always something behind his actions, and this explained everything Doc had been wondering about before confronting Jan. He'd felt lonely, painfully so. He'd perceived Doc's being busy as Doc choosing to ignore him, and so he did what he felt like was needed to get the other to pay attention to him. 

This also made the spontaneous fits of affection make a lot more sense. He felt unloved, and was doing what he thought would make Doc like him again. Maybe it was also an attempt to make up for how awful he'd been without actually acknowledging any of it, but since it only ever resulted in Doc getting more upset with him, he rolled with that. Either way, it got Doc to acknowledge him.

It was occurring to Doc that Jan had a lot of glaring personal problems if he honestly thought any of this was a good idea. Not that he didn't already know this, but it was becoming more clear.

Jan looked up at him warily, disturbed by the lack of a response. Then he shrank back a little. "I fucked up, huh?"

"Yes, but-"

"Are you gonna break up with me?" It hardly even sounded like a question, as if he already knew the answer. "God, of course you are. Why wouldn't you? What else did I expect to happen? I'm such a fucking idiot." He kept mumbling, mostly to himself, sounding more and more panicked. He unwrapped his arms from around himself so he could run his hands through his hair, then dig his fingers in and pull.

" _Jan._ " Doc said firmly, to get his attention.

It did the trick. Jan flinched at the sudden interruption, looking at Doc with a mix of fear and curiosity. 

Doc grabbed Jan's wrists, moving his hands down and away from his hair. Jan tensed up at this, but thankfully didn't flinch again or try to pull away.

"Nobody is breaking up with anyone, okay?" 

Jan looked confused at this. "Really? You're sure?"

"Of course not." Doc let go, moving to wrap his arms around Jan's shoulders and pull him into a hug. "Just please don't do any of this again."

"I won't." Jan completely melted, burying his face in Doc's chest. "I won't, I swear." His voice broke, and he took a few seconds to try and steady himself. Regain whatever composure he still had. "I didn't mean none of what I said, I really didn't, I just... didn't know what else to do." Then quieter, almost whispering, he added "Sorry."

"I know, it's fine. I forgive you." As long as it didn't happen again. He had a feeling Jan had learned his lesson though, knew that this wasn't how he got his way, so Doc doubted he had to worry about anything like this happening again. "And for the record, I never stopped caring about you. I've just been very caught up in my work, more so than usual. I didn't even realize that I'd been ignoring you."

"Yeah, I kinda realized that. Now I mean, didn't catch on before." 

"Well, as long as you know. I'm sorry for... neglecting you, I guess."

Jan shook his head. "Nah, you're good. I should've just said somethin' instead of actin' like... well, like that."

Yes, he really should have.

"'Sides, ain't all the stuff you're doin' super important? Kind of a dick move to distract you. Sorry about that."

"Stop apologizing. I already said I forgive you, didn't I?" Jan wasn't wrong exactly, his work had been extremely important as of late. There was a lot for him to focus on, he couldn't afford to get distracted. But, the issue had been resolved. There was no need for Jan to keep beating himself up over it.

Jan just nodded, apparently having nothing to say to that.

Doc thought about his schedule for the next few days. When was he going to have a chance for a break, or some time off? He wanted to make it up to Jan. He realized, however, that he really didn't have much. There was now, and there was the time he used to sleep and take care of himself. And if the invasion happened as soon as he thought it would, that would leave him with even less.

That was rather disappointing, he really didn't want to have to wait until after things had cooled down to be able to spend time with his boyfriend. 

Then he got an idea. Maybe Jan could help him out? There wasn't much for him to do, on top of being lonely he must have been very bored.

There was the problem of a lot of what Doc did being rather delicate, but surely there was something Jan could assist with. If not, then Jan could just hang around and keep him company. 

Yes, that sounded like a good plan. If Jan didn't have any objections, then this would be a great way to make up for lost time.

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been ruminating in my mind for a while, but I couldn't figure out how to write it for the longest time... Still not sure how I feel about how I executed it, but I'm glad I was able to get it down


End file.
